In case you missed the announcement on Facebook, we are bringing Pig-Fest back this year!  Mark August 20th on your calendars and be on the lookout for more details in the near future.

Our upcoming move is really in motion now. Our current home in Denver is under contract and if everything else goes smoothly, we will close the sale on May 2nd. If you were waiting to put your bid in, well you waited too long. We also spent this past weekend in Cincinnati on a house hunting trip. We’ve been paying close attention to the market and available properties in our chosen neighborhood of Hyde Park over the past couple of months, so we had a small list of seven homes to go through with our Realtor. Of the seven properties we visited on Saturday, we clearly had 2 favorites, and they were actually both on the same street. Our Realtor is actually the listing agent for our top choice. We told him the highest we were willing to go on the house, and after he talked with the owners they have accepted this verbal offer. We are now working to get all the paperwork in order, but again things are looking very good on the purchase of a new house.

Opening day and a Red’s win! Who could ask for anything more? Busy day today. I promise more tomorrow.

We will soon be losing Kim’s company car as a result of our upcoming move. And as much as I’d like to think that we could get by with only one vehicle, I don’t think that will work in the less public transit friendly city of Cincinnati. We started our big search a couple of weeks ago, and have recently spent some time test driving a handful of vehicles.  The big things that we are looking for are storage capacity at least as good as the Chevrolet Equinox that we will be replacing, all wheel drive, and the best gas mileage possible.

As it stands now we have it pretty much narrowed down to three choices:

• Hyundai Santa Fe GLS AWD
• Mitsubishi Outlander SE AWC
• Subaru Outback 2.5i

Each of these vehicles start around $25,000 but we have been given quotes up to $2,500 less. In addition they all get over 20 MPG City and 25 MPG Highway, as well as larger cargo capacity than the Equinox. One big difference is that both Hyundai and Mitsubishi offer a 5 year / 60,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty, while Subaru’s is only 3 year / 36,000 mile. We have also recently thought about adding the Kia Sorrento into the mix, though we have yet to test drive it.  Does anyone have any thoughts on these brands? Or are there some other vehicles that we should be looking at that we have skipped over (keeping in mind what is important to us)?

I have now reached a decade of legal alcohol consumption.  Yep, today is my 31st birthday.  To celebrate Kim gave me a variety of IPA’s this morning along with a set of snifter glasses that I’ve been wanting. My mom sent a bunch of books to me for our upcoming move back to Cincinnati including Day Trips from Cincinnati and 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Cincinnati. She also sent some new running clothes. It has been a good day so far.

We took Trey to the zoo on Sunday afternoon. Visits to the zoo were a common thing when I was growing up, and I’d like the same to be true for our son. On this visit he slept most of the time, though he did wake up to see the gorillas. The gorillas were always my favorite part of the zoo as well. He decided he wanted to eat at that time, so I fed him a bottle as we watched for more gorillas in their outdoor enclosure. He also seemed to enjoy the bears and the arctic wolves too. It was an easy-going day full of sunshine and leisurely strolls.

Writing on my blog while connected to work has become a bit of a pain.  My website is being blocked by websense because they have categorized it as Social Networking.  I think that’s a bit of a stretch.  I’ve emailed them to get it corrected.

Anyway, Kim and I took Trey to the doctor today for his two month check-up.  Everything went well and he is a growing boy.  Details of the visit are on kimandedjr.com.

One thing that has really struck me is that every time they ask if he is doing something, whether it be putting weight on his legs or laughing, the answer always seems to be yes.  He not only loves to put weight on his legs, he even tries to walk up our torsos.  Not only does he giggle, smile, and coo all the time, he put on a nice little display for the doctor full of every noise he knows.  Our little guy is advancing quickly.

Grandparents With Trey

My parents made their first trip to see Trey this weekend, bringing along my brother and his girlfriend.  They arrived Thursday afternoon and were already visiting with Kim and Trey by the time I had made it home from work.  I took Friday off to fully enjoy their trip with them.  And just as I thought it was over, we may get the chance to see them again tonight, since their flight back was canceled and they can’t get another one until tomorrow.  Eventually when they are back in town, my mom will have a ton of pictures to share, but here are a few I stole from her for now.

Tim And Melissa With Trey

I combined a couple of video clips from Trey’s first few minutes of life.  He was very vocal at the beginning, but once he settled down his eyes were already wide open and taking in his new world.  I repeat, he was very vocal at the beginning, so you may want to adjust your speakers before playing.  You have been warned…

Kim’s parents and brother Nick flew into town last night and will be visiting for the weekend.  Their visit reminded me that I neglected to mention some sad news that happened the same day that our son was born.  Kim’s cousin Patrick lost his long battle with cystic fibrosis around the same time as Trey’s birth on Sunday, January 9.  You may recall our participation in the Run Like Hell races the last couple of years, a 5K race on Halloween that benefits the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  With Patrick’s disease confining him to the hospital so often, these events were some of the few times that I got to spend with him.  Despite only knowing him for a few years, I will admit that he was one of the strongest people who I will ever know.

DIERSING Patrick T., Beloved son of Jay and Denise Ryan Diersing. Devoted brother of Brad (Jennifer Kroger) Teeters and Dennis Diersing. Loving uncle of Riley Teeters, Harley Kist and Emma Diersing. Dear grandson of the late Elmer & Lucille Diersing and Florence & Thomas Ryan. Passed away Sunday, January 9, 2011. Residence Harrison OH. Age 21. Visitation in the John C. Brater Funeral Home, 201 S. Vine St. Harrison OH 45030 Friday, January 14 from 9 AM until time of the funeral blessing at 11:30 AM. Memorials may be made to Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, 4420 Carver Woods, Cincinnati OH 45242.